Dancing in the name of Nambi

Nambi is synonymous with art in Uganda.

Probably you have listened to the song Nambi by Jamie Culture. The song did not make a lot of waves but did talk about a mysterious, beautiful girl who everyone in the village wanted, yet she had her eyes on only one man.

Then there came Kenneth Mugabi’s Nambi, a soulful song mainly played on an acoustic guitar that describes a young woman whose lover only gets a chance to meet over the well. Of course, Mugabi’s setting is one of a village where parents live, and thus, by default, the song is rich with vocabulary as well as symbolism.

Away from songs, however, early this year, Peter Mukiibi took the film industry by storm when he released his debut film, a short, Nambi.

Mukiibi’s Nambi is a re-imagination of the known folklore of Nambi and the first man, also known as the first Ganda king, Kintu.

In all the different art forms, Nambi has been presented in, one thing has always stood out, she is graceful, beautiful, and one of the most respectable figures.

Both Culture and Mugabi had a Nambi who was eye candy and every man’s wish, and they were not afraid of laying their wishes down even when they seemed to know the dangers. In Mukiibi’s film, she wasn’t just any girl, she was a princess and a god.

The story of Nambi

The first known story of the mythical figure Nambi goes as follows: she was the daughter of Ggulu, the sky god, and she lived in the heavens. One day, Nambi decided to visit Earth and explore its beauty. During her time on Earth, she met a man named Kintu, a mortal human. The two fell in love and decided to marry.

What follows after a god meets a mortal is something different people have told and interpreted in different ways.

Later today, at the National Theatre, choreographer and dancer Lillian Maximillian Nabaggala will be presenting Nambi in yet another art form - dance.

Nabaggala is an interdisciplinary artist working in the fields of dance, choreography, fashion, and education. Her identity as a choreographer is based on her strong skills in and passion for four distinct areas of dance: street, Ugandan traditional, contemporary, and Latin.

After music, dance could be the most consumed and practiced form of art, it is a kind that calls people to join or take part. Yet, dance is still one of the most misunderstood forms of art by the audience.

Ugandan dance

Talking to the Art Space, a weekly art show on X, formerly known as Twitter, Nabaggala notes that dance, like any other art form, is a powerful tool to spread messages, and it is something she is usually deliberate about with her choreography.

“The dance I do is both theatre and showcase. For the last five to six years, it has been theatre where movement is being used to tell a story. As a choreographer, it is important to understand the audience you are creating for and to integrate movement and imagery that tell a story besides the wow moments. But it comes down to how, for instance, you want to tell the story of a vulnerable woman; am I only going to use traditional dances?” she says.

Like theatre, dance carries a lot of symbolism with colour, cloth, and body movement that, at times, the message intended, can get lost in translation.

“For me, movement in theatre is about evoking a feeling that makes the audience want to say something even if they don’t understand it. It is important for me to evoke a feeling that says something from the audience’s perspective,” she says.

Over the years, the significance of dance has been visible, yet still questioned. In music videos, for instance, some artistes believe dancers are part of the video vixens they could easily replace.

Some even believe their only role in a music video is to twerk.

As a choreographer, Nabaggala has, of course, been in that situation. In 2018, she choreographed and appeared in Slick Stuart and Roja’s Very Wello video.

“Initially, I was asked to twerk,” she says.

However, twerking, she says, doesn’t speak Nabaggala, and it’s not her forte; thus, she did what worked, and the directors got to appreciate it in editing.

“I know very many female dancers go through the same thing, and maybe most of them don’t speak for themselves, but I was personally ready to walk off the set if they had insisted,” she says.

Nambi the production

Nabaggala’s directed dance production Nambi was first showcased in 2018 at the Batalo East Festival.

Nambi (the African shieldmaiden), performed by the Female Collective from Uganda, reflects and reminds the audience of the roles of women and their contribution to society.

Choreographed by Nabaggala, the intensive routine draws inspiration from powerful women throughout African history and is intended to teach lessons that the present woman can learn from.

“The production goes back to 2017 when I started out with two amazing ladies Joana Jojo Nabalirwa and Vivian Nassali, we rehearsed for about a month and went for the ADE Festival, The East African Nights of Tollerence in Rwanda, and also in Uganda in 2018, at the Batalo East Fest at Ndere Centre,” she says.

She says what inspired her to do Nambi was that she sees many women in the society who may not be influential, yet they have played very important roles in the community.

“The mama in the market can just say one thing and everybody will not question her, but listen, that is a queen already, she doesn’t need to have a crown. So what inspired me were these everyday women who have an aura and energy to contribute something to society that is visible but can’t be touched.”

She says according to her research, Africa’s great queens and princesses had that special element, even when most of theirs came from their ancestral lineage.

“Nambi is based on the interpretation of the queen of today in our communities, regardless of which category or hierarchy in the community they are in, but with the subtle contribution they play in our community,” she says, adding that understanding that they have power and their contribution to the community even without spears and a crown is what makes these ordinary women queens.

“I’m thrilled to do Nambi; we have wanted to do it various times, but the timing wasn’t right. At the moment, it’s special for me to see this 25 minute piece morph into a one hour production, and of course, it’s amazing to be performing in Uganda after a very long time.”

This is not the first time Nabaggala is using the art of dance to send a message, in 2021, with the help of the Kuonyesha Art Fund, she put together a short dance film, Faded.

With the help of dancer-cum-filmmaker, Hakim Zziwa Nabaggala talks about identity and skin complexion, but the film says more about the two topics, diving into areas of colorism, trying to understand why people bleach.

In the movie, the multidisciplinary artist takes us through the motion of a happy woman who chooses to fade her stunning dark skin complexion for a lighter shade that degenerates into lost beauty as it peels away.